As the air turns crisp and the leaves change hue, the fashion world mounts an irresistible spectacle that shatters the languor of summer and lures us into the stores. Throughout the world fall means fashion. There is Fashion Week, the industry event that lasts more than a month during which the premier design houses unveil their collections to celebrity packed audiences, as well the buyers and the press, in a sequence of intoxicating runways shows in New York, London, Paris, and Milan. But the industry is always six months ahead, and as the elite view the latest looks for next spring and summer, the real-life fashionista wonders “What should I wear this fall?” But never fear; the answer lies in the Fall Fashion Update, that reliable, annual report that tells us exactly what we can add to our tired old wardrobes to make us look—and more importantly feel—fashionable.

The Fashion Update has deep roots in commerce. The very nature of fashion compels us to the new, and by the second half of the nineteenth century, the smartest retailers played upon their (mostly female) consumers’ desire to interpret their wants as needs. Émile Zola captured this perfectly in his 1883 novel Au Bonheur des Dames, in which the lead male character, that smooth seducer Octave Mouret, drives women to a frenzy, not with his soft words and good looks, but with the sales he mounts in his department store. At an afternoon tea, hosted by his glamorous mistress, the women crowd around Mouret “imprisoning him in the circle of their skirts,” as he describes the goods in the upcoming fall sale. They become breathless at the prospect of the new laces, silks, and gleaming taffetas that comprise his latest stock, but Mouret saves the best for last by sharing a secret that he knows will bring them through the door: “I must warn you that people will be wearing woolens a lot this year.”

Not everyone can get the latest trends over tea with a handsome department store magnate, and from Zola’s time forward most of us have turned to the fashion press to guide us to the latest trends for fall. At the dawn of the last century, Harper’s Bazaar informed readers that every season has its color and 1900 is the year of beige and tan. Over the decades, the point of interest shifts, but the advice for fall keeps coming. In 1945, we needed to change our silhouette: “Be rounded and waisted…be belted and bound.” And five years later, Harper’s urged us to try the reversible coat made of two-sided fabric. Coeds could add a special dimension to their education with the right color choice: “To Catch a Fella, Red and Yella.”

Throughout this September, every branch of the media is looking back to last year’s runways to give us tips for fall, emphasizing that in these tough economic times, we only need one or two things (or five or ten) to look fresh and up-to-date. Buy just a cape, or better yet, a jacket without sleeves. Or maybe what you really need is something in faux leather. Make it crocodile and you’ll be ahead of the trend. But if you keep reading you get as dizzy as those ladies seduced by Zola’s department store playboy. Should we be sexy or prim? Is the silhouette draped or structured? Do we want studded boots or embellished stockings? Will red lipstick really distract from those old clothes that we excavated from the back of the closet? And if not, how can we afford to update ourselves this fall?

We turned to our readers to find out the must-haves in the real world for Fall 2011. More than one answered that it’s time to buy a hat. A petite installation artist is longing for a Maison Michel black trilby. She adores the cunning gray ribbon trim, and it would make a charming accent to her “boyfriend” Oxford shirts, but the steep price has sent her to the chain stores, looking for a viable substitute. The film editor also is eying hats, but she is tempted by knit newsboy caps with tiny brims. Her aim is “devil-may-care bohemian,” but she hesitates, fearing that the wrong choice will make her look like a child pick-pocket out of Oliver Twist. Gray seems to be the seasonal color of choice for several of our correspondents. And why not? It’s versatile, elegant, and understated. But, when a sharp London editor went into Whistles to snag a gray tunic to go with her slim black pants, she left with a finely pleated animal print skirt that she says “sounds awful” but is, in fact, “rather gorgeous.” And it’s not just women seeking something special to spark up the season. A handsome librarian we know believes that the new, slim-cut trousers would give a jolt to the classic shirts and sweaters he already owns, and a dashing authority on typography longs for a gray asymmetrical cardigan by McQueen.

Although most of our correspondents lamented that the one thing that they needed this fall could not be wedged into their budgets, they all enjoyed the prospect of a seasonal wardrobe change. The London editor took time out of her Mediterranean beach vacation to confess her love of autumn shopping, and the modish international translator looked forward to the “easy cover-up” provided by fall fashions, ending the rigorous round of “exfoliation, deforestation, and self-tanning” made necessary by skimpy summer attire. She’s out buying tights: some with patterns and some in shades of gray. So put on your hats and pull up your stockings. It’s time to get ready for fall.